Nifty 50 closed at 22,332.65 (-160.9, -0.7%), BSE Sensex closed at 73,502.64 (-616.8, -0.8%) while the broader Nifty 500 closed at 20,288.75 (-146.1, -0.7%). Market breadth is moving down. Of the 2,115 stocks traded today, 308 were on the uptrend, and 1,780 went down.
Indian indices extended the losses from the afternoon session and closed in the red. The volatility index, Nifty VIX, rose by 2.9% and closed at 14 points. REC signs a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Rajasthan government to invest Rs 20,000 crore per annum in power and non-power infrastructure segments. The NBFC will invest this amount for the next six years, taking its total investment in the state to Rs 1.2 lakh crore by 2023.
Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 closed lower following the benchmark index. Nifty Healthcare closed higher than Thursday’s closing level. According to Trendlyne’s sector dashboard, retailing emerged as the top-performing sector of the day, with a rise of over 0.6%.
Most European indices trade in the red. US indices futures trade lower, indicating a negative start. On Thursday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said it would be appropriate to talk about interest rate cuts only after confirmation that inflation has been under control. The US CPI inflation data for February, due on Tuesday, is expected to show a 0.4% increase.
Money flow index (MFI) indicates that stocks like Godfrey Phillips India, Tata Chemicals, Tata Investment Corp and Rallis India are in the overbought zone.
Solar Industries India wins an export order worth Rs 455 crore for supplying items to be used in defence products over the next two years.
Alembic Pharmaceuticals is falling as the US FDA concludes its inspection of the company's oncology formulation facility at Panelav with four observations.
NBCC (India)'s arm HSCC (India) wins multiple construction orders worth Rs 367.9 crore from Medical Education & Ayush, Maharashtra, and Power Grid Corp India.
REC is rising as it reportedly signs a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Rajasthan to invest Rs 20,000 crore per annum in power and non-power infrastructure segments. The NBFC will invest this amount for the next six years, taking its total investment in the state to Rs 1.2 lakh crore by 2023.
Gopal Snacks' Rs 650 lakh IPO gets bids for 9.0X the available 1.2 crore shares on offer on the third day of bidding. The retail investor quota gets bids for 4.0X the available 59.4 lakh shares on offer.
PNC Infratech bags an order worth Rs 1,174 crore from MP Road Development Corp to construct 40.9 km of the Western Bhopal bypass.
Coal India signs an agreement with Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam (RRVUNL) to explore opportunities for securing power supply in Rajasthan. Among the five projects identified, the company's main goal will be to investigate the viability of establishing 4,100 MW of projects through a joint venture company.
State Bank of India falls as the Supreme Court dismisses its extension plea and directs the bank to disclose electoral bond details by March 12.
Media stocks like Sun TV Network, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, PVR Inox, Network18 Media & Investment and Saregama India are falling in trade. All constituents of the broader Nifty Media index are also trading in the red, causing it to fall more than 2%.
Rail Vikas Nigam rises sharply as it bags four orders worth Rs 2,092.3 crore from different clients. The largest order, worth Rs 888.6 crore, involves developing power distribution infrastructure in Himachal Pradesh. The second largest, worth Rs 543 crore, is for the construction of five elevated metro stations in Indore.
CLSA maintains its 'Outperform' rating on Maruti Suzuki India with an upgraded target price of Rs 12,890. The brokerage expects the firm's market share to increase and the passenger vehicle segment to revive in FY26. It also foresees a rise in the share of CNG vehicles.
Power Grid Corp signs a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (RRVPNL) to form a joint venture (JV) for the development of an Intra State Transmission System. The JV will undertake projects worth up to Rs 10,000 crore.
Hindustan Aeronautics hits its all-time high of Rs 3,428 as the government approves the acquisition of 34 new advanced light helicopters (Dhruv choppers), manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics.
Dilip Buildcon receives a Rs 548 crore construction order from the National Highways Authority of India to improve the Thoppur Ghat Section's alignment on the Dharmapuri Salem section of NH44 in Tamil Nadu.
B Thiagarajan, MD of Blue Star, expects strong demand during the summer season. He notes that the room air-conditioner (RAC) category is starting to become more of a need than a luxury and hopes to end FY24 strongly. Thiagarajan also anticipates competition to remain high in the RAC space.
JM Financial falls as the Securities and Exchange Board of India bars the company from taking new mandates as a lead manager for the public issue of debt securities.
Infibeam Avenues reaches a new 52-week high of Rs 42.5 as it launches its new video AI platform, THEIA. THEIA offers organizations video AI analysis for application in areas like traffic management, sports analytics, crowd control, insurance claims, and retail stores.
NLC India surges as it signs a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Rajasthan to form a joint venture (JV) for a 125 MW lignite-based power plant and a 1,000 MW solar power plant. The company expects an investment of Rs 7,000 crore for these projects.
Reports suggest that around 2.6 crore shares (6.7% equity) of InterGlobe Aviation, amounting to Rs 7,813 crore, change hands in a large deal. Its promoters are the likely sellers.
DB Realty falls despite its board of directors approving the issue of equity shares worth Rs 1,500 crore through a qualified institutional placement (QIP). The board has set a floor price of Rs 270.9 per share for the issue.
HG Infra Engineering wins a Rs 610.1 crore order from the National Highways Authority of India for the construction of a four-lane elevated corridor in Jharkhand.
Sagista Realty Advisors, promoter of Sapphire Foods India, sells a 0.4% stake in the company. It now holds a 3.1% stake.
Torrent Power rises as it receives a letter of award (LoA) worth Rs 1,540 crore from Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution through an auction. The order involves setting up 306 MW grid-connected solar power projects across 48 locations in Nashik, with the generated power to be procured by the government at Rs 3.1 per kWh.
Nifty 50 was trading at 22497.70 (4.2, 0.0%) , BSE Sensex was trading at 74145.86 (26.5, 0.0%) while the broader Nifty 500 was trading at 20450.40 (15.6, 0.1%)
Market breadth is horizontal. Of the 1922 stocks traded today, 894 were in the positive territory and 939 were negative.
Riding High:
Largecap and midcap gainers today include Linde India Ltd. (5,906.80, 5.9%), InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. (3,218.55, 3.6%) and Supreme Industries Ltd. (4,027.95, 3.4%).
Downers:
Largecap and midcap losers today include UCO Bank (55, -4.4%), NMDC Ltd. (228.85, -4.2%) and Vodafone Idea Ltd. (13.75, -3.5%).
Volume Shockers
27 stocks in BSE 500 are trading on high volumes today.
Top high volume gainers on BSE included Godfrey Phillips India Ltd. (3,637.05, 10.3%), Narayana Hrudayalaya Ltd. (1,276.10, 8.2%) and KEC International Ltd. (748.40, 6.6%).
Top high volume losers on BSE were PCBL Ltd. (250.25, -6.8%), CreditAccess Grameen Ltd. (1,322.20, -5.3%) and Pfizer Ltd. (4,404.45, -2.7%).
InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. (3,218.55, 3.6%) was trading at 21.4 times of weekly average. Zydus Wellness Ltd. (1,591.90, 0.6%) and Kalpataru Projects International Ltd. (1,107.45, 5.4%) were trading with volumes 13.3 and 11.7 times weekly average respectively on BSE at the time of posting this article.
BSE 500: highs, lows and moving averages
31 stocks took off, crossing 52 week highs, while 11 stocks hit their 52 week lows.
Stocks touching their year highs included - Bajaj Auto Ltd. (8,659.40, -2.5%), Bank of Baroda (277.40, -1.5%) and Bharti Airtel Ltd. (1,196.60, -0.3%).
Stocks making new 52 weeks lows included - La Opala RG Ltd. (326.90, -2.7%) and Timken India Ltd. (2,565.55, -1.2%).
6 stocks climbed above their 200 day SMA including Supreme Industries Ltd. (4,027.95, 3.4%) and Shoppers Stop Ltd. (770, 2.4%). 14 stocks slipped below their 200 SMA including JM Financial Ltd. (79.30, -9.8%) and Ratnamani Metals & Tubes Ltd. (2,700.25, -5.1%).